What do you call a group of female dogs?

Aunt L bought C "My sticker Activity Book: Dogs & Puppies." See below:


It is filled with coloring pages, puzzles, mazes, word searches & stickers. C was sitting on the couch with her activity book, working on a word search. I was in the kitchen. She asked me what f-o-o-d spelled and I helped her sound it out. "Food!" She found "food" and moved onto the next one. She asked me what s-m-e-l-l spelled and we sounded that out too. "Smell!" She then asked me what b-i-t-c-h-e-s spelled. I asked her to read me those letters one more time. b-i-t-c-h-e-s. She started to sound it out: "biiiiiih iiiiiiiiih tuuuh . . . . Mom? When you have a C and an H together, it makes a CHuh sound, like 'cheese,' right?

I drop what I'm doing, and run over there to see what letters she's obviously mixing up, and right there, in black and white:

Seriously dogs & puppies sticker book? Seriously? You're really gonna go there, aren't you? You're really going to put the word "bitches" in a word search? You couldn't have picked like "jump" or "ball" or even "fetch?" You just had to pull out the "B" word, didn't ya.

Don't worry, I did what every other self-respecting mother would do. I distracted her with the measuring tape. She's been measuring stuff for the last 30 minutes.

Our very own Annie Leibovitz

C got a camera for Christmas. The following is a SMALL sample of her latest work. She has taken over 230 pictures since December 25th.

Christmas

Santa was good to us this year. Christmas Eve and Christmas day were busy, busy, busy - but we had a great time!

This is our attempt at a family picture at Mimi's house Christmas Eve. Since J didn't have an ugly Christmas sweater for the party, he decided the next best thing was his sweet Jerry Garcia t-shirt. I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted. So, here you go:

Pappa Barrow came over Christmas morning and helped us unwrap our gifts:
F got a sweet tool bench.

Hooray for Christmas!!

Mickey Mouse Club

Grandma & Grandpa Meow took the whole family to Disneyland. We left on the 19th and got home on the 23rd. It was so. much. dang. fun. We had such a blast. C loved every single minute of it, and F did so great! He took a nap in the stroller everyday we were there. We had 3-day park hopper tickets. We did Disneyland the first 2 days and California Adventure the 3rd day. We also visited the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Always a good time.


F kept pretending that he was fast asleep in his stroller. He'd keep his eyes closed for a long time and then he would start to smile and then open his eyes and say "peek-a-boo!" Here he is - faking us out:

The haunted mansion was converted to "The Nightmare Before Christmas." It was so cute inside and both C and F loved it:


Toon Town: J opening the power company doors. When you cracked the door, it would make a really loud buzzing sound and the lights would flash. He started screaming really loud and he told C that he got electrocuted. There were a couple of kids waiting for their turn, and when J started screaming, they turned right around and went back to their parents.

J and I came back to Disneyland late on the 2nd night to watch the fireworks. It was so much fun. The castle looked so cool. The fireworks were timed to Christmas music. After the fireworks were done, it started "snowing" on Main Street. It was cool.

Grandpa Meow helped the kids trade Disney pins with everyone they met. All 3 had a rockin' good time doing it. And of course, we had to get the traditional mouse ears for the kids.


The aquarium was cool. I've been there quite a few times before, but it never gets old. Grandpa was so patient with F and made sure he got to touch the nurse sharks and the rays.


This handsome devil got attacked by a bird as soon as we walked into the Lorikeet forest. It was so funny.


F was loving the birds until one of them jumped on his head. It became really uncool, really fast.

We had a great time. Lifelong memories for sure. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!! We love you.

I have been upstaged . . . . . .

Driving to the grocery store Monday afternoon:

C: "Mom? You know what I wish? I wish that Hannah Montana was MY mom."
Me: With my mouth hanging open, I slowly turn around to stare at her. I tried to look as hurt as possible. "Are you serious?"
C: "Yeah, but don't worry. You could still be my step-mom."
Me: "Wow, buddy. I'm speechless."
C: "Good. When should we start?"

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Papa Barrow brought us a fine lookin' tree this afternoon.
We had a blast decorating it. All the ornaments are the ones J had growing up.
F was so excited, he couldn't stand it.
He kept running around in circles trying to expel some of his energy.
And C just kept posing in front of the tree, whether or not I was taking pictures.


At one point, J asked F to give him a "high five."
F decided to chew on J's hand instead, cause you know, that's totally normal.

We had a good time, and our tree looks awesome.
We have a timer on our camera. I've never used it before
but decided that tonight was the night. Here is the result:

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Thursday's Chain of Events

This:

Led to this:

Which led to this very convincing sad face (notice the sneaky hand):

Christopher Pop-in-Kins

C found a surprise on her bed Thanksgiving night. It was a book that none of us have ever seen before, entitled "Christopher Pop-In-Kins." We knew that someone had put the book there and that we were supposed to read it as a family. It was about one of Santa's favorite elves, Christopher. He told Santa he was sad because he never got to see the boys & girls. Santa decided to send him down to the homes of very special boys and girls. Christopher is supposed to watch their behavior to make sure they are worthy to receive their presents Christmas morning. There are only two rules: (1) the elf has to hide up high, out of reach of children. If Christopher is touched by a child, he will lose his magic and have to go straight back to the North Pole; (2) Christopher has to return to the North Pole by Christmas Eve to report back to Santa.

I have never seen C look so awe-struck as I was reading the book to her. After we finished, she told me that she thought an elf was coming because she was a "really good girl."


Friday morning, C raced downstairs and found Christopher, in all his glory, just waiting to be discovered:

Every morning we wake up and find Christopher in a different spot. He has been up top of the curtain rod (I think this is his favorite place), hanging onto the lamp, sitting on C's dresser and even hanging from the gas mask!

True to his word, Christopher is always up high. A few days ago, Mimi gave C a candycane. C told us that she wanted to give her candycane to Christopher. She put in a special place and wouldn't you know it - the very next morning Christopher had the candycane and it was almost gone!


C talks to Christopher all the time. She asks him if he likes where he is sitting, and if he wants to watch her play with her dolls. She makes sure to let him know that she's been a really good girl. Every night before bed, she says "goodnight."

Christopher has been a wonderful house guest. I hope he'll come next year too.

Wordless Wednesday . . . . . Almost

ps: i want everyone to know that J painted her nails. They had a daddy-daughter date.

F's 1st Haircut

He needed one. I didn't necessarily want him to get one, but it was time. He had this weird mullet thing going on in the back, and it was so frizzy. And, the hair in front was getting in his eyes. I KNEW the second I got his hair cut, that he would go from being my baby to a full-fledged big boy. I was right ~ he looks so much older. And yes, I cried. And yes, J made fun of me.

Before:

After:

Disney on Ice with Grandma Meow

Grandma Meow took C on a date last Saturday. They went to Disney Princesses on Ice. C was so excited. She let me do her hair in a "princess" style. She wore her Belle dress. And, she even wore tights, which just testifies of her excitement. She hates tights and I usually have to bribe her so she'll wear them for church and ballet. Anyway, Grandma Meow spoiled her rotten and got her some Mulan dragon binoculars, a slushie in a genuine princess goblet (complete with a spoon/straw thing), a collector's edition program that came with a beauty & the beast rose. C was in heaven. I don't know what kind of face she's pulling in the 2nd picture - but whatev. You never know what you're gonna get with C. Thanks Grandma Meow! You're the best!